Our Wrong Expectations
by LostInOurTranslation
Summary: AU: Dean's life is so tedious, until he meets the new guy at school Castiel. Suddenly his life is turned around.


The exact moment when Dean's life changed forever he was walking home from college. An utterly underwhelming activity, yet for the rest of his life he will always remember walking home that day. I guess we all have this over dramatic expectation that our lives will play out like Hollywood films but it doesn't work like that. He thought that maybe he would feel something; like he would instinctively know that his life would be ripped apart.

But he felt nothing.

The truth is life has a cruel way of twisting our lives in the most mundane ways. He played the situation a thousand different ways in his head, but it didn't matter. After a while he learnt that it was useless to try and wish things had been different. It took the, all a long time, but eventually they moved on. That's what he struggled to cope with. The idea that life continued as if nothing happened.

1.

Walking to and from college was always the best part of Dean's day.

It's hard to explain but there was always something comforting about the familiarity of the route. To be able to switch off and take in everything around you.

"You look intense" A soft voice from behind forced the earphones out of his ears. Jo beamed up nudging him with her elbow. Things were always easy with Jo, she understood the need to walk in comfortable silence, but still managed to hold effortless conversation that wasn't forced.

Switching off his music Dean grinned at the blonde girl. "What can I say? I'm a sucker for intense music- it matches my emotions".

Jo rolled her eyes laughing at Dean. "Oh so that's who you're going to be this year" she smirked walking backwards to stare at Dean. "Mr dark and stormy, I guess you'll have all the girls lining up for you huh?"

Dean raised his eyebrow contemplating her words. Sure he'd been with a few girls from his class at the odd party or social gathering, but that really wasn't the kind of thing he was hoping for this year. It was so boring having to repeat the same pattern with different girls.

It was like everyone was brought up to follow these unspoken rules on how to get to know someone. Yet however many hours you spend dating people always put on some kind of better version of themselves. It was only natural. Yet it meant that by the end of a relationship you look back at the person you thought you knew everything about, only to realize that they were a stranger. It was a flawed concept.

"Hardly" Dean winked, pushing his hands deep into his jeans. "I'm done with that kind of thing, I want to focus on my interesting prospects".

Jo swiveled round unable to keep walking backwards without falling over. "Oh and what does that involve?" She asked, watching as Dean grinned back at her.

"It involves keeping my head down in order to get out of this place and go somewhere different after college". Dean whispered feeling the impact of finally saying to out loud. He wanted to travel the world- to explore new places. The consistency of this town was making him feel suffocated.

Jo sighed as they reached the gates of the building. Carefully she tucked her hair behind her ears before turning to Dean. "So you're seriously telling me that nothing interesting is going to happen this year?"

"I'm afraid not" Dean smirked walking past her to enter the building. "I'm going to live happily in the background from now on".

* * *

The day started off normally. The classes were boring, but somehow Dean managed to get through the first half without getting into some sort of conflict.

It wasn't that Dean liked to get himself into fights, it was just that he always managed to lose his temper to people who liked to get a reaction. It seemed that even the bullies got so bored in this town that they needed to make snide comments in order to make things interesting.

However as Dean slowly walked towards the canteen he could hear the taunts and shouts of people fighting before he could see what was happening. Standing behind the group of people watching the fight with a big grin on his face was Crowely. Although harmless, if there was ever a fight occurring Crowely would be there. That's one of the reason he met Dean in the first place. Dean liked Crowely's sarcastic comments.

"What's going on?" Dean asked Crowely, peering over the other boys shoulder to look and the two guys fighting.

The first person he saw was unsurprisingly Alistair. Dean felt the blood pump through his veins as he thought of Alistair. They'd made contact numerous times when he made snide comments about Dean's mother. He enjoyed the pain he caused. He liked to draw blood.

Crowely chuckled as cheers continued spur the two guys on. "The new guy didn't take well to Alistair" He whispered, causing Dean to avert his eyes from the Alistair to the dark haired boy pinned to the ground.

Blood was pouring out the boy's nose and Alistair continued to slam his fist into the boy's face. Dean was struck by the guy's eyes. They were so blue. Dean admired how there was no rage in the brunette's face. It was almost as if he was amused by Alistair- if anything it caused him to get angrier.

Before Dean could ask what happened, a loud whistle caused everyone to freeze. Dean glanced up to see the gym teacher thunder towards the group with determination. Most of the students hurried away as the teacher pulled Alistair off the other boy. Dean watched as the brunette pulled himself effortlessly off the ground, straightening his sweatshirt as if nothing had happened.

As Dean moved to turn away he caught eyes with the dark haired boy.

There was something about the way he looked that caught Dean off guard. It was like the air had been knocked out of his chest. Despite the blood that was still trickling out of the guy's nose dripping slightly onto his lips, the boy seemed calm, and held Dean's gaze with ease.

Slowly the boy smiled, nodding his head before picking up his bag from the ground and walking away.

Dean was frozen with shock.

What was it about that guy that made him feel like he knew everything about Dean? The way he held himself was different from anyone he'd ever met- even Jo. His posture was so relaxed and confident. Like he knew who he was and didn't try and change himself for anyone else.

It was unusual to see someone so comfortable with themselves.

Dean slowly walked to the canteen unable to shake the feeling of unease from his body.

* * *

Walking out of the building Dean glanced at a hunched figure, sitting on the low wall by the side of the building. Dean recognised the boy without having to see his face. The dark mess of wavy hair instantly hit Dean with a weird feeling in his stomach.

It was the boy from earlier.

As Dean attempting to make his legs walk normally, he could hear the boy repeatedly flicking a lighter. Attempting to get the cigarette sticking out of his chapped lips to light.

"Hey" A deep voice startled Dean as he turned round to face the other boy. "You're Dean Winchester right?" the boy smiled raising an eyebrow at Dean's shocked reaction.

"How do you know my name?" Dean cringed at how his voice sounded. Why was he such a mess around this guy?

The brunette smirked, slowly taking the cigarette out of his mouth. "We have the same math class".

Dean frowned as he struggled to remember sharing the same class with this boy. Surely he would have remembered being in such a close proximity with this guy, but he couldn't remember him at all. His plan of staying in the shadows had worked for the first half of the day.

"I'm Castiel" The boy smiled, jumping down from the wall to hold out his hand to Dean.

 _Castiel_.

His name was as unique as his presence.

Dean slowly shook the boys hand as he attempted to look at ease. His brain was having trouble processing what was happening.

"So" The boy drifted off aware of Dean's silence. "Do you have a lighter?"

Dean cleared his throat shaking his head slightly as he tried to force himself to act naturally. "Uh yeah sure" He said fishing into his pocket to grab the silver lighter his dad had given him. As he flicked the lighter holding up to Castiel's cigarette he noticed the blood stains on the boy's sweatshirt, reminding him of his earlier altercation. "I saw you're fight with Alistair earlier".

Cas nodded raising his eyebrows as he sucked in his smoke. "Yeah, that guy was messing with this kid I have no tolerance for people like him".

The two begun walking down the road as Dean chuckled at the other boy. "So he didn't actually say anything to you?"

"He didn't even see me until I'd thrown a decent punch". Cas laughed shaking his head. "You should have seen his face".

Dean smiled as the two walked in silence. He had no idea where Castiel lived, so he just continued down his normal route, waiting for the other boy to indicate where he was going.

"So how was your first day then?" Dean quizzed feeling stupid at the generic question. Cas must think he was so ordinary. He felt ordinary walking next to someone like him.

Cas sighed staring ahead as he walked. "It was alright, I guess". He said ruffling his hair. "It's just like the same thing repeated though".

Dean nodded watching as Cas stopped to stamp out his cigarette. "I'd love to say it gets more interesting than that, but I wouldn't want to lie to you dude". Dean chuckled shaking his head.

Castiel stared at Dean forcing him to look away blushing. Dean was taking off guard by Cas's inability to feel awkward at their prolonged eye contact. "There's always time for thing's to change".

Dean slowed his pace as he reached his house. He wasn't sure what to do now. Should he invite Castiel in? He barely knew the guy but he didn't want to seem rude. As he stopped outside his door Castiel turned to face Dean, so close that he could feel the warm from the other boy radiate from his skin.

"It was nice meeting you Dean". Cas smiled tilting his head slightly. Dean tried to swallow the lump that had formed in his throat. "Maybe I'll see you tomorrow?"

Before Dean could reply Castiel had turned to slowly walk away, his hands tucked into his pockets.


End file.
